Integrated Security Systems
Video, access control and intrusion designed as one system on a properly segmented network — with the life-safety interfaces done correctly, because that is the part that gets people hurt.
A security system touches life safety, and that changes how it has to be engineered. Every electrically locked door in an egress path has to release under fire alarm and allow free egress without special knowledge. This is not a preference; it is code, and it is the single most common serious defect we find on existing systems. We design the locking hardware, the fire alarm interface and the access control together, and we test the release under actual alarm conditions before we call it complete.
What the scope covers
Video surveillance
Camera selection driven by the pixel density the scene actually requires — detect, recognize or identify are different designs. Retention, bandwidth and storage sized honestly.
Access control
Credential strategy, reader selection, controller topology and door hardware coordination. OSDP with secure channel rather than Wiegand, which has no encryption and is trivially cloned.
Intrusion detection
Perimeter and interior detection, zoning, duress, and monitoring path with a supervised communicator.
Life-safety integration
Fail-safe versus fail-secure determined per opening, fire alarm release, request-to-exit, delayed egress where permitted, and documented testing of each.
How the work actually runs
Risk and requirements review
What are we protecting, from whom, and what happens after an event. Camera placement follows from the answer, not from covering the most square footage.
Design and coordination
Device layout, field of view study, door hardware schedule coordinated with the architect and the door supplier, network and storage sizing, and the fire alarm interface points.
Procurement and compliance screening
For federally funded and government work, equipment is screened against the NDAA Section 889 prohibitions before it is ordered. Discovering a banned camera at closeout is an expensive way to learn this.
Installation and configuration
Devices installed and aimed, controllers programmed, credentials enrolled, network segmented onto its own VLAN with access to the enterprise limited to what is required.
Verification and training
Every door tested for free egress and fire alarm release. Every camera verified against its design view. Operator training delivered and documented.
Standards & Compliance
- UL 294 — Access Control System Units
- UL 681 / UL 1076 — intrusion alarm installation and monitoring units
- NFPA 731 — Standard for the Installation of Premises Security Systems (2026 edition)
- NFPA 730 — Guide for Premises Security, for risk assessment practice
- NFPA 101 Life Safety Code — egress, door locking and release
- SIA OSDP (IEC 60839-11-5) — secure reader-to-controller communication
- ONVIF profiles for multi-vendor video interoperability
- NDAA Section 889 — prohibited equipment screening
Code editions are revised periodically and local authorities amend them. The requirements that apply to your project are confirmed against your jurisdiction during design.
What You Receive
- Device schedules, camera field-of-view study and door hardware matrix
- Documented egress and fire alarm release test for every controlled opening
- Network segmentation and IP addressing documentation
- Operator training and administrator handover
Why replace Wiegand with OSDP?
Wiegand is unencrypted and one-directional. A cheap tool on the reader wires captures a credential and replays it. OSDP secure channel encrypts the link and supervises it, so a cut or tampered reader is detected.
What is NDAA Section 889 and does it apply to us?
It bars certain Chinese-manufactured video and telecom equipment from federal contracts and federally funded work. It reaches further than most owners expect, including through rebranded OEM hardware, so we screen at procurement.
Can we keep our existing cameras?
Often, if they meet the pixel density the scene needs and are not on the prohibited list. We assess before recommending a rip-and-replace.
Talk to an engineer about security systems.
Tell us the building, the constraints and the deadline. We will tell you what the work actually involves before anyone quotes a number.